Ambling through Art and Anarchy at the British Library

Our crew visited the British Library today. I have been there a couple times before - the first time was amazing, and the next time I felt I had seen everything in the Treasures Room so I went looking for books and was told that the "Tourists belong downstairs." Having learned now that the British Library has a fixed location classification system, I feel less irritated with being told to basically get out. The Library is beautiful. It has a modern design, and the King's Library, which was once housed in a wing of the British Museum before being moved to its own collection in the new building, is on display behind thick glass walls in the center of the building. It can be observed from several of the floors, the spines of old books proving that this library is one of history and import. Only five people have access to that collection in the Library, which shows how precious of a collection it is.

This summer, the British Library is presenting an exhibit on Comics: Art and Anarchy in the UK. Of course, I purchased a ticket to explore. It was marvelous. The exhibit featured different topics where comics had played an important role: Slice of life, Horror, Politics, Sex, Seeing ourselves as heroes... etc. It's pretty fascinating to see how women were portrayed in comics; first as nags and secondary characters, then disappearing for quite some time, before reemerging as their own characters. The political section of the exhibit was pretty fantastic. There were mannequins dressed in street clothes and Guy Fawkes masks. It was pretty eerie. All the art from V for Vendetta just made me want to watch the movie again. Comics have often been used as a subversive medium for political speech. There were images of women in important jobs and men who have been imprisoned, drunk, insane, and unfit for service, and it was an illustration of who can vote, and who cannot. Women - who are capable to hold such important roles, did not have the vote, yet these men who squandered their privilege never lost their voice. It was pretty powerful to see.

Picture of the day (look at something from a different perspective) :

Lanterns from directly below - Chinatown, Leicester Square

Joke of the Day:

What does a passive aggressive raven say? 

Nevermind.